EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Great Northern Paper has hired a 26-year veteran of the paper industry as its next president.

Ned Dwyer, who began his duties at the company’s East Millinocket paper mill this week, will be responsible for the mill’s day-to-day operations and long-term business growth, according to a media release from GNP, which is a subsidiary of Portsmouth, N.H.-based Cate Street Capital.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Dwyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in paper science and engineering from the State University of New York and Syracuse University, according to the release.

“I am proud to have been chosen to lead Great Northern Paper, a company that has shown steady growth since Cate Street Capital resurrected the mill in 2011,” Dwyer said in a statement. “My goal is to continue that growth, as the mill undergoes exciting improvements this year.”

Richard Cyr has served as GNP’s acting president for the last 12 months, since Peter Hanson resigned in December 2011 after what the company called “philosophical differences” between Hanson and other company leaders.

“We conducted an exhaustive search for our new president, and we’re very happy to have landed Ned, a skilled and qualified paper industry operations manager,” Cyr said in a statement. “Having worked in a variety of manufacturing, commercial and technical roles for International Paper, E.B. Eddy and Weidmann, Ned has succeeded in general management positions both in the U.S. and abroad.”

Cate Street Capital purchased the shuttered paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket in August 2011. While the Millinocket mill remains closed, the East Millinocket mill employs 257 and could add as many as 50 employees by the end of 2013, the release said.